%0 Journal Article %@ 1362-4962 %A Pancevac, C %A Goldstone, DC %A Ramos, A %A Taylor, IA %D 2010 %F discovery:1418595 %J Nucleic Acids Research %K transcription, genetic, rna, complex %N 9 %P 3119-3132 %T Structure of the Rna15 RRM-RNA complex reveals the molecular basis of GU specificity in transcriptional 3'-end processing factors %U https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1418595/ %V 38 %X Rna15 is a core subunit of cleavage factor IA (CFIA), an essential transcriptional 30 -end processing factor from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. CFIA is required for polyA site selection/cleavage targeting RNA sequences that surround polyadenylation sites in the 30 -UTR of RNA polymerase-II transcripts. RNA recognition by CFIA is mediated by an RNA recognition motif (RRM) contained in the Rna15 subunit of the complex. We show here that Rna15 has a strong and unexpected preference for GU containing RNAs and reveal the molecular basis for a base selectivity mechanism that accommodates G or U but discriminates against C and A bases. This mode of base selectivity is rather different to that observed in other RRM-RNA structures and is structurally conserved in CstF64, the mammalian counterpart of Rna15. Our observations provide evidence for a highly conserved mechanism of base recognition amongst the 30 -end processing complexes that interact with the U-rich or U/G-rich elements at 30 -end cleavage/polyadenylation sites. %Z The Author(s) 2010. Published by Oxford University Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc/2.5), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.